Just because the paychecks cease, doesn’t mean the bills stop coming.
Ann Whallen, 71, had both knees replaced 13 years ago. Further ailments forced another repair of one of her knees about four years ago, and she’s been unable to work due to the physical ailment.
Her husband, Robert, 70, has diabetes and a heart condition. Just a few weeks ago, the bill for his medicines totaled $500.
As the chief and essentially only breadwinner in the Jeffersonville family, Robert puts in long hours as a manager of a Circle K in Louisville. He once worked almost seven months without a day off, and wakes most days at 4 a.m. to make his shift.
Without a monetary cushion, the Whallens run the risk of a financial shortfall if any emergency were to arise. Many people in Southern Indiana are in similar situations.
“I don’t know what would happen if something happened where my husband couldn’t work, because I couldn’t support us,” Ann said.
But her worry isn’t just for herself and her husband. The couple took in three of their grandchildren to raise about a decade ago, and they don’t receive assistance for doing so.
It’s a constant struggle, but one Ann meets with graciousness and faith. Her family attends Ohio Falls United Methodist Church in Clarksville, and they receive quite a bit of support from their church family.
“A lot of miracles happened in my life to keep me going, and that’s why I don’t give up, because I know there’s always going to be a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
The Indiana Institute for Working Families provides a self-sufficiency standard calculator for each county in the state. The estimated income needed to live without government assistance is based primarily on housing, transportation and food costs.
For families, the calculator takes into account child care expenses.
A single adult living in Clark County with an infant-aged and a preschool-aged child would need to earn $34,634 annually to live a self-sufficient life, according to the calculator. That wage equates to an hourly income rate of $16.40 for the adult. In Indiana, the minimum wage reflects the federal standard at $7.25 per hour.
A single adult with an infant and a preschool-aged child living in Floyd County would need to earn a similar income as would be required in Clark County to get by without government assistance.
The biggest expense in both scenarios would be child care, totaling more than $900 a month. The salaries needed for self-sufficiency in both counties are well above the average annual incomes for public housing residents in Floyd and Clark counties.
For a resident at risk of falling into homelessness, finding a job that would pay a livable wage while allowing them flexibility can be a tremendous challenge, officials said.
“With every one thing, there’s another 10 things attached,” said Lisa Donohue, director of the family self-sufficiency programs for the New Albany Housing Authority.
It’s not just about finding a job, she explained. While lack of education and work experience can make seeking employment difficult for some, Donohue said getting hired is just one step of the process. Many people living under trying circumstances struggle to find transportation to and from work, and also have to secure child care before they can clock in.
Donohue said those obstacles make working difficult for many who are in public housing, or are seeking to live autonomous from government subsidy.
So, she’s asking employers to be more flexible. If society wants those on subsidy to find gainful employment, firing a person because they were a few minutes late due to waiting on a bus ride isn’t going to break the cycle, Donohue said.
And the New Albany Housing Authority has experience in breaking the cycle. Since the inception of its self-sufficiency program, 29 public housing residents have purchased their own homes and shed government assistance. To date, the program hasn’t incurred a foreclosure from one of its participants.
ARE THERE ENOUGH JOBS?
“One of the biggest challenges locally is finding some kind of employment that pays a living wage,” said Brian Brown, chair of the Southern Indiana Housing Initiative. “It’s typically out of reach for people who have very limited work histories.”
And many times in Southern Indiana, good-paying jobs just aren’t available for those in the greatest need, he continued.
Obviously wages have a direct effect on housing, including subsidized living. With only so many Section 8 vouchers available, the system becomes backlogged, he said.
“There’s not enough jobs available, so the people who are on Section 8 are not getting higher paying jobs so they can get off Section 8 and make vouchers available for the next guy or girl,” Brown said.
For Uric Dufrene, professor of finance at Indiana University Southeast, it comes back to education.
“Regions that can best prepare and develop the workforce will have a competitive advantage relative to other metro economies,” he said. “Related to this is overall education attainment. Southern Indiana continues to rank below national averages in most education attainment categories, and this will limit the ability of the region to attract certain types of companies and higher-paying jobs.”
In the meantime, the poverty rate continues to increase.
According to an IU Southeast Applied Research and Education Center study, the number of people living at or under the federal poverty threshold in the four-county region of Southern Indiana included in the Louisville Metro Statistical Area increased by 59.2 percent from 2000 to 2010.
There were 19,301 people living in poverty at the end of 2000, but that number jumped to more than 30,000 at the conclusion of 2010, according to the study.
The child poverty rate in Southern Indiana’s four-county high-poverty area is 42.2 percent, according to the study. That amount is much higher than the 17.9 percent rate for the Louisville Metro Statistical Area.
The highest poverty tracts in Southern Indiana were found within New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville.
THE ‘CLIFF EFFECT’
Also known as the “Benefit Cliff,” the “Cliff Effect” is used to describe people who choose to remain on subsidy because earning more income will result in a net loss of benefits, or make them ineligible for programs like food stamps.
Ann, who volunteers at the Center for Lay Ministries food pantry in Jeffersonville, said she has friends who are influenced by the “Cliff Effect.”
“If they make a little more money, then they take away something,” she said of removing benefits like Food Stamps or Medicaid from people once they begin working.
A grace period — some time for a person who is struggling to get on their feet — before taking away subsidies is needed if society really wants to move people away from government aid, Ann added.
It’s called the “Cliff Effect” because it’s literally like free-falling from a place of some stability when benefits are removed, Donohue added.
“You have all of this support, and then when you start making a certain amount of money, everything goes away,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just more beneficial [to stay unemployed] because you’re going to get more money and more support by not working.”